http://embalmyweather.livejournal.com/ ([identity profile] embalmyweather.livejournal.com) wrote in [community profile] tampered2010-07-20 02:20 pm

(no subject)

WHEN: grave-digging event.
RATING: PG-15 (?)
SUMMARY: The Keeper's words for the Keeper's coin.
NOTE: an individual thread per trade, please! No need to confuse the Keeper...

Kamishiro Tsurugi

[identity profile] sword-boy.livejournal.com 2010-07-24 02:22 am (UTC)(link)
[Tsurugi killed here (http://sword-boy.livejournal.com/10212.html) I believe the Keeper starts, right?]

[backdated to Thursday-ish?]

[identity profile] absinthe-eyed.livejournal.com 2010-07-24 05:51 am (UTC)(link)
[Justin's last memories were of zombies--or skeletons or mummies or animated corpses or whatever the creatures were. He had evaded them for some time, but once they had found him, there was little for him to do but flail wildly and hope that he would at least irritate a few of the ghouls before dying. The injuries from that pathetically one-sided and lethal battle had healed, however, although the City's regenerative powers had neglected to restore Justin's clothes to their original state.

Waking up in a subterranean chamber didn't surprise Justin nearly as much as it should have. It was a kinder awakening than the one the City had treated him to the other time he had died.

Somewhat disoriented and more than a little afraid that a nightmarish mob of ghouls would appear at any second to rip him apart again, he sat up and surveyed the chamber.]

[identity profile] sword-boy.livejournal.com 2010-07-24 06:03 pm (UTC)(link)
[Tsurugi wakes up to find himself in a place he has never seen before, but reminds him of that accursed necropolis he had been wandering in for what seemed to be the longest time]

...Where... No. Why am I here? I thought I was killed.

[Tsurugi turns to look at his surrounding, but sees nothing. Nothing at all.]

Huh... It appears I stand on top of being dead alone.

[identity profile] sword-boy.livejournal.com 2010-07-24 06:20 pm (UTC)(link)
[Tsurugi turns sharply to face the Keeper, within seconds of it appearing... a benefit of not being perfectly human anymore. The sight of the Keeper doesn't surprise Tsurugi at all, since the Worm were stranger when he thought he was human.]

Who... What are you? ...Wait, thinking? I'm not what?

[identity profile] sword-boy.livejournal.com 2010-07-24 06:28 pm (UTC)(link)
I wouldn't know... you sound like you're Death, or Death's avatar though. My world has technology and aliens in it... not, this. I'm not familiar with this at all.

[identity profile] sword-boy.livejournal.com 2010-07-24 06:41 pm (UTC)(link)
"Death" as in its personification. I still don't have a clue what I'm doing here... with you.

I'm not sure about your candles, but I'm not human.... I haven't been for awhile. That's why I'm not the same as the lot you remember.

[identity profile] sword-boy.livejournal.com 2010-07-24 06:51 pm (UTC)(link)
[Tsurugi laughs for a second]

I'm already dead. I died twice before I ever came to the City. So, I don't see how I'm here to die, when death has already taken me.

[identity profile] absinthe-eyed.livejournal.com 2010-07-24 08:59 pm (UTC)(link)
The voice was unexpected. The thing--person?--it had come from looked little better than the other creatures. Justin drew back. The ability to string sentences together (and what unpleasant sentences they were!) didn't mean that this new horror was any less a monster.

"No--no thank you," he replied hoarsely. "Once was enough."

[identity profile] sword-boy.livejournal.com 2010-07-24 09:02 pm (UTC)(link)
[Tsurugi stops entirely for a few seconds, before getting a tight expression on his face.]

Are you saying that you're what lets the dead "live" here in the City?

[identity profile] sword-boy.livejournal.com 2010-07-24 09:14 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm already dead. I accepted that a long time ago... I promised my sister... the one which was killed by this body... that I would eliminate all the Worm, and that meant my own death.

...So, why does it matter if I'll die? I've already died... and died well.

[identity profile] absinthe-eyed.livejournal.com 2010-07-24 09:21 pm (UTC)(link)
"I didn't come to die," Justin said, the slightest bit indignant. He had tried very hard not to die, in fact. "Not intentionally."

He watched the thing's movements, trying to place it--categorize it, label it, anything. Maybe it was one of the deities. It's lack of clarity certainly made him think of the other powers in the City. "Who are you?"

[identity profile] absinthe-eyed.livejournal.com 2010-07-25 10:38 pm (UTC)(link)
Justin could do little but stare at the man (if it was a man). It seemed unfair, being informed that he needed to die so soon after getting that over with again. He surveyed the cavern, trying to decide whether or not he could escape. But what good would escaping do? They were still clearly underground, and that meant that the rotting creatures were undoubtedly waiting in any chambers beyond this one.

Justin decided to take his chance with the corpse-like entity before him.

"Why do I have to die?" he asked, skipping over the man's inquiry as to his preferred method of execution. "We could--do you... do you make deals?"

[identity profile] absinthe-eyed.livejournal.com 2010-07-26 03:22 am (UTC)(link)
And Justin would not break that tradition by asking.

"The deities?" Of course the deities. The bankers, loaners, collectors, and jailers of the City. Justin wasn't sure if he was relieved or alarmed by this affirmation of his suspicions--that this was one of the other powers. "No, I don't--I don't think you're one of them. Sorry." He inched backwards until the cavern wall was flush against his back. It wouldn't save him if this entity wanted to kill him, of course, but it made him feel slightly safer. "I give them as little as possible."

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